Michael Gove - Fact Check
During his recent visit to Great Kneighton in Cambridge, The Rt Hon Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities reportedly told CambridgeshireLive that he wanted new homes to be 'beautiful'. He said:
"If you choose the right developer, if you have the right master planning, if you have the right design codes, then you can absolutely do that."
Michael Gove’s visit to the development has been featured in posts on social media by the architects and designers of the housing - and rightly so. Some of the housing has been beautifully designed and should be applauded. However, I have read posts implying that the Design Code was just an unnecessary planning requirement that no one took any notice of and that it is the design of the housing itself that makes Great Kneighton a success. What an absurd view!
The Design Code for Great Kneighton (originally called The Clay Farm Design Code) was prepared in 2011 further to a condition of the outline planning permission, granted on 6th August 2010, which stipulated that all Reserved Matters planning applications must accord with the Design Code and include a statement demonstrating compliance with it.
Clay Farm Design Code
The Design Code followed the design intent of the Design and Access Statement which included six binding parameter plans to regulate the land use, movement, landscape, storey heights, density and urban design principles. These plans were created from the work behind the Illustrative Masterplan. The design content of the Code is a refinement of that masterplan and takes the urban block structure to a more detailed level. Understanding this detail enabled Countryside Properties (the developer) and Cambridge City Council to produce a robust Design Code that was deliverable.
The Great Kneighton development includes up to 2250 dwellings, new schools, a mixed-use neighbourhood centre, a transport interchange and a major new public open space for the City, covering 49 hectares.
As part of the work that went into producing the Great Kneighton Design Code, the design team at Countryside Properties designed a proving layout and created a 3D model to test the parameters of both height and density against the target number of dwellings and mix. Without this model we could not have been certain that the rules set out in the Design Code were deliverable.
We also held a Design Code Testing Day to which we invited Cambridge City Council, Cambridge County Council, our whole design and development teams and twelve independent architects. All contributors are listed at the end of this article. We spent the day assessing, designing and re-designing different parts of the site until we were all satisfied that the Design Code would be deliverable, fit for purpose and true to the vision of the masterplan.
Apart from disrespecting all the work that went into the Masterplan and Design Code, by many people, over several years, the notion that it is the housing alone that makes a place successful, shows a lack of understanding when it comes to strategic masterplanning and placemaking. The Masterplan and Design Code created the frameworks within which the housing could be designed. The design of the housing contributes to the success of a place but it is only part of a very detailed and sophisticated jigsaw. It the result of a long, iterative and complex process.
It is good to see that Michael Gove understands this.
If you would like to download a copy of the Design Code or the Testing Day Summary please visit the resources page of the website
The architects and designers who contributed on the testing day were:
John Phillipps, LDA Design
Richard Lavington, Maccreanor Lavington
Rowan Seaford, Maccreanor Lavington
Christopher Campbell, Campbell Architects Ltd
Rachel Simmonds, Campbell Architects Ltd
Bruce Carlton, Scott Brownrigg
John Richards, Scott Brownrigg
Stephen Proctor, Proctor & Matthews
Andrew Matthews, Proctor & Matthews
Sir Richard MacCormac, MJP Architects
Yoko Takahashi, MJP Architects
Nik Randall, Space Craft Architects
Paul Gibbs, David Jarvis Associates
Mette McLarney, Group Chief Architect, Countryside Properties
Choonsin Ho, Architect, Countryside Properties
Julius Viehoff, Architect, Countryside Properties
Garry Batt, Architect, Countryside Properties
Richard Rutherford, Architectural Technician, Countryside Properties
Joe Whiteman, Chief Engineer, Countryside Properties
The development team members who contributed were:
Chris Crook, Countryside Properties
John Oldham, Countryside Properties
Jo Clark, Countryside Properties
Nigel Borrell, Countryside Properties
Jonathan Gimblett, Countryside Properties
Harminder Dhanota, Countryside Properties
Alex Maltby, Countryside Properties
Those who contributed from Cambridge City Council and the Joint Development Control Committee were:
Helen Shaw
Elizabeth Rolph
Glen Richardson
Jonathan Brookes
Dinah Foley-Norman
Simon Bunn
Clare Rankin
Mark Taylor
Ian Dyer
Jon Finney
Robert Lewis
Peter Studdert
Charlotte Smith
Many more specialist consultants were involved in the production of the Masterplan and the Design Code as well as the Special Projects team at Countryside Properties, led by Robin Hoyles.
